These are our BUDS. Always happy to photograph them as clients but more happy to photograph them as some of our best friends. Last year we did an on-location shoot but this year we went back to their house because SamSam, their dog, felt left out and missed me too much. I don’t know what to say about these folks that I haven’t said before but it bears repeating that I love them and I’m grateful to have friends who are family down here. We watch a lot of bad movies and occasionally some good movies and we celebrate holidays and birthdays and go through good things and bad things together and sometimes I take their pictures. Their oldest son and I are buddies – we hang out at Geoff and Jon’s softball games together where he tells me important things like “I went to Target today” and asks the hard hitting questions such as “How far is your house from here?” and about 50 other questions that start with “why” in an hour’s time. Their youngest son, who has been slightly more wary of me, is now big smiles and I’m pleased to report that he voluntarily ran up and pushed me during this session while giggling and running away, which is his first voluntary interaction with me. Soon we’ll be best buds too. However, their first and oldest child, dog SamSam, will always make sure that I’m her best friend first and foremost and will bowl over all children and people in the process (I’m going to pretend she’d do this even if I didn’t give her treats).

I was so happy to reunite with Katy and Jereme and their two kids, who have the #1 eyelashes in the tri-state area – nay – the world. And maybe they don’t appreciate their insanely beautiful eyelashes yet but someday they will be like wow, what a gift. In the meantime, they’re breaking boards apart in taekwondo class, swinging in the backyard, showing me throw pillows in the shape of their mom’s face, jumping on couches and in cribs, playing hide and seek in the yard, and doing kid stuff where they aren’t worried about how wonderful their eyelashes are. There’s also some pretty intense/incredible smiling from Little Brother. And I got to hang out with Katy and Jereme, who are rad people with good taste in sports (baseball) and movies (Donnie Darko) and dogs (Sammy the elderly and precious Schnauzer). It’s always fun to hang out with them because they have a great sense of humor and don’t get offended when their kid only wants me to push him on the swing and not them and then proceeds to make frowny faces in all the photos where they’re pushing him on the swing because I was busy trying to photograph the family together (what can I say? I am a #1 swing pusher).

It was such a joy to photograph Annie and James enjoying a weekend morning at their home with their kids! We photographed their wedding in 2014 and it was so nice to see them again! Their two girls are an absolute delight – funny, intelligent, and full of spunk. They enjoy riding their bikes, hanging out in their yard with their sweet dog Luna, building forts with their Buc-ee’s blankets, and making special family recipe pancakes. I had a great time learning about all their stuffies and being introduced to the world of Buc-ee’s, which I wasn’t previously familiar with but now I think I know what to expect should I ever run across one (it sounds delightful). I loved photographing a little slice in time for this amazing family!